Royal Arch Blaspheme - II

In many a way, black/death war goats Royal Arch Blaspheme can be defined as a slower, sludgier version of Gospel of The Horns, Destroyer 666 or any other savage purveyor of bestial black/thrash, or a corrupted, blackened side of Autopsy, displaying massive doom metal influences whilst blaspheming with utterly disgusting black/death. With the band consisting of John Gelso of Profanatica and N. Imperial from nay other barbaric blasphemers, the second offering of Royal Arch Blaspheme is a viscous spray of pure disgust and spastic incursion of black-laden delirium, cunning with the sheer lack of speed of some of its moments, summing up for an ultimately spiteful cluster of eerie primitivism. Not only was I baffled by their cunning usage of decrepit old school death metal riffs, but I was also quite content that they found themselves a suitable label which no doubt support their cause.

Pretty much like the comparison above, Royal Arch Blaspheme lean towards the more death oriented side of black/death, and they never exclude certain doom elements from their music, resulting in a primal record, with absolutely ill-tempered gloom n' doom splattered sparse. The riffs are loaded with repulsive disgust and hate, but there also a negative side of this tenebrous combination of black and death, which is the monotony, and the lack of creativity, even though I must admit that blackened death/doom is done very right on this record. The aural stalls are sometimes drowning and even agitating, but usually the eerie embrace of the atmosphere makes up for it, especially when songs like ''Resurrection Of Depravity'' kick in, cutting into the semi drowsy slithers of the previous riffs and offering a crusty slab of old school black metal, wholly overwhelming the listener with a primal, cavernous aura. ''II'', gathers disdainful putrefaction and ear sickening blasphemy and adds a hint of ponderous melancholy on top, mixes the new formed formula, and divides it into ten well built psalms, and that, is pretty much the whole of its basis.

Even though its barbaric spurts continue to drench ears for the entire continuation of the record, I fear Royal Arch haven't inserted a sufficient amount spunk and accent into their archaic riffs, and with no major impulse to give out, the record wasn't able to give out the exact measure of corpulent scorn that it intended to give, and that's probably the biggest gap in ''II's'' all around structure. I've certainly enjoyed its ample riffs with their strident, semi harmonic cuts and twists, and what's more is that they've formed an ultimate combination of death and black, relatively different from all the other bands out there, producing totally vicious and rapid material. Royal Arch Blaspheme had their formula set from their debut album, though, and this record is a minor step back in terms of energy unfortunately as it focused more on the melancholic and numbing overtones of black metal, but fear not, I still have hope that they'll build their next record around all the things they missed in the last two, and then, we can hopefully have peace. ''II'' is incredibly robust, but a wall always needs soldiers and towers guarding it in order to maintain efficiency.

Highlights:
Resurrection Of Depravity
Psalm 39
When The Cruel Nails Pierced Thy Tender Hand And Feet


Rating: 83,5%